Through Other Eyes
by Sweedledome
Summary: Follow the relationship between Chloe Beale and Beca Mitchell as it develops through the eyes of other people. AU extended one shot. Bechloe.


Through Other Eyes

Sharon sat and tried to block out the heavy drone of noise that was the students of the school's cafeteria. She had to figure out some way to make this routine work now that Nancy had gone and broken her leg, honestly, being head cheerleader wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Far more stress around than Sharon had thought when she ecstatically accepted the title. There was a heavy thump as an excitable body settled into the seat next to her.

"You are never going to believe what I just heard!" Sharon gritted her teeth, not in the mood to deal with her best friend and her perpetual love of gossip. She really didn't need to know who Stacie had slept with now.

"Gemma, not now. I've got to have this sorted by practice tonight."

"Trust me, you're going to want to hear this."

"No, I really don't. Please jus-"

"Chloe Beale and Beca Mitchell." In spite of herself, Sharon got drawn in. People always seemed to get drawn in on matters regarding Chloe Beale.

"…what?"

"Word is that they're a thing now."

"Who the hell is Beca Mitchell?" Sharon asked, though she had a sneaking suspicion she already knew the answer. She made a point to try and know the names and faces of as many fellow students as possible but there was one who always seemed to shy away from any attempt at contact. Even Jessica and Ashley had more of a presence.

"Apparently it's that brunette girl who's always hanging around the music block."

"Let me get this straight, Chloe _Beale_ is going out with loner music girl?" An unoriginal nickname, true, one that no one quite knew where it came from. She had always been known as loner music girl, that's just the way it was.

"Mhmm."

"Chloe Beale? Crazy popular Chloe Beale? Gets asked out daily Chloe Beale? Queen of Barden High Chl-"

"Yes Sharon! I get it! Do you know another Chloe Beale?"

"I just…how the hell did that happen?"

"Oh, so now you're interested?"

"Oh spit it out Gemma, I know you're dying to tell me."

"Now I don't know if this is true…"

"What?"

"Well, here's the odd thing, no one's ever seen them speak but apparently a few weeks ago Chloe was walking past the gym showers with some friends and they heard someone singing and Chloe went in. Nobody knows what happened in there but everyone reckons that must have been Beca singing because a little while later and suddenly they're together without anyone ever having seen them hang out."

"Wow."

"Yeah." Sharon fell into silence, not quite sure how to treat the news that had just been given to her. Then she noticed the definite lull in the constant buzz of student conversation that she had been dying for only a few minutes ago. Looking up, she saw the subjects of their current conversation steadily making their way to a table. Every eye in the room followed the pair as the settled at one. Conversation gradually picked back up as it became apparent the two weren't going to do anything more interesting than quietly eat their lunch.

Still observing them, Sharon noticed Chloe's tranquil air, relaxed with the ease of someone who has no social fears and is comfortable regardless of circumstance. Her eyes then slid across to loner music g-no, across to Beca. Her body was tense, fingers occasionally coming up to slip her headphones back on (Sharon was pretty sure this was the first time she'd ever seen her without them on) then retreating as if remembering she wasn't supposed to do that. Her eyes flitted around the room nervously, hands refusing to touch her lunch as Chloe calmly made her way through hers. She looked ready to bolt at any second.

"It won't last." Sharon mused.

"You think?" Gemma cocked her head in confusion at her best friend's sudden opinion. As long as they had known each other, Gemma had been aware of Sharon's distaste for commenting on other people or gossip in general. Why she was best friends with the school's most notorious gossip neither of them could really answer, they just were.

"No."

"I think it's kind of cute, you know, unexpected romance and all that. The Queen of Barden High and the social leper." Gemma sighed.

"It's cute, yeah, but look at them. Chloe's social, incredibly so, it's why she's so damn popular. I don't think anybody even knew Beca's name until today. She clearly likes her own space and making friends isn't exactly at the top of her priority list. Don't get me wrong, Beca could be the nicest girl on the face of the planet, I don't know because I don't know her, but I do know that she doesn't like to be around people, Chloe does. Whatever they've found with each other, they belong in different worlds and ultimately that's going to get to them."

"Whoa now, who filled your bowl with cynical flakes this morning?"

"I just don't think it'll last." Sharon sighed, sparing one last glance to the terrified looking girl a few tables over and went back to the routine, hoping that however this thing ended, it wasn't in tears.

* * *

"Well buddy? How'd it go?"

"It's a no."

"What? But you were talking for ages! And I swear I saw her smiling…"

"She's in a relationship."

"Huh?" Jesse sighed, knowing he'd have to put up with another round of questioning from Tom, the guy just didn't know how to let things lie. He'd never really warmed to Tom ever since they'd started working together at the university coffee shop but long hours and many shifts together meant it was better to try and get on with the guy.

"I said, she's in a relationship."

"So? You're the only one she really talks to around here, you should get in on that." Jesse clenched his jaw and tried to stay calm as he cleaned the coffee machine. As someone who been on the receiving end of cheating, he hated any suggestion of not treating someone's relationship with respect.

"No Tom, I don't do that. If someone's in a relationship, they're off limits."

"Dude, come on, you've been crushing on this girl since she started here a month ago. Just grow some balls and turn up the charm."

"It wouldn't work even if I tried, she obviously really cares about her girlfriend and-"

"Wait, hold up, girlfriend?" Jesse mentally face palmed as a perverted grin made its way across Tom's face. "That is so freaking hot. You've gotta try for a threesome."

"Do you ever stop thinking with your dick?"

"Do you ever try and think with yours? Beca may be kind of scary with all the eyeliner and stuff but she's still hot. Hot chicks go out with hot chicks. You've got such an opportunity here, why aren't you going for it?"

"Look, would you just back off? You want to know what we were talking about for ages? Beca was telling me all about her and the whole damn time she couldn't keep a smile off her face. I was kind of sad at first because, yeah, I hoped Beca would want to go on a date but the more she talked the more I could see they really love each other. Beca actually followed her across the country so they could be together while Chloe studies pre-med then when she's graduated and Beca's saved up enough money from this job, they're going to LA together. They've been together since high school Tom, they're not about to drop all that for a stupid threesome."

"Chloe? The red head Chloe who's always in here? The one with the really over complicated order?"

"Tom, did you not listen to a word I just said?"

"Yeah I did, and you're an idiot because red comes in here every day. Every day dude, she's into me."

"Ever think she's in here every day because her girlfriend works here?"

"Yeah, but she always gets her order from me." Jesse failed not to snort at that. He'd initially been confused as to why Chloe always ordered an incredibly complicated coffee from Tom then immediately went and got a plain black from Beca while Tom was dashing about trying to find all the correct ingredients. He didn't blame her, if he was subjected to Tom's "moves" every day, he'd try and figure out a way to get rid of him too.

The dinging of the bell let them know someone had just entered the shop. "And there's red now, anyway, just because you're not going to take advantage of the situation, it doesn't mean I'm not." Putting on his 'winning' smile, Tom sauntered over to where Chloe had just appeared.

Later, Jesse assured the manager that he really didn't know what Tom was on about trying to accuse Chloe of assault. She thought she was being attacked, why wouldn't she mace her attacker? And it really was unfortunate timing on Beca's part to trip and spill that coffee all over Tom while he was writhing on the floor but accidents do happen. Beca and Chloe couldn't be blamed at all really.

Watching Beca and Chloe smile to each other as Tom hauled himself away, Jesse was grateful for the days events. Tom's overly hostile nature and threats against the two had resulted in his dismissal. Yeah, he hadn't gotten to go out with his crush like he'd hoped but he'd get over that easily enough, on the plus side he no longer had to put up with an insufferable work colleague and he was pretty sure he got a couple of new friends.

Beca wandered over and gave him a high five as they happily watched Tom stumbling down the street. Putting on his best Bogart voice, Jesse said "Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Beca greeted him with blank stare. "Oh come on! Seriously Beca? Casablanca!"

* * *

Doctor Garrick let out a loose growl that sent yet another intern flying as fast as they could to get his lab results back.

"You really ought to be kinder to them you know, they are tomorrow's doctors after all." Garrick spared a withering glance to the brunette on his right. He didn't snap and launch into a sarcastic tirade as he usually would. Doctor Freeman was one of three people in the entire hospital to have such a privilege and certainly the only one who could happily fire right back at Garrick without sparking a full scale meltdown, years working side by side with the woman had done that.

Many did not understand how the doctor who no one had to say a bad word about and the doctor who everyone had to say a bad word about, were so close. Essentially it was because they were both good people at heart, Garrick could be incredibly callous, yes, but when it came down to the crux of the matter, he cared about people and did whatever he could to make them better. He recognised that Freeman did the same and considered her one of the few truly selfless people he knew.

"That's the problem…and why do you suddenly care how I treat my interns?"

"Because I think you broke one." Raising an eyebrow at him, Freeman gestured with her pen over the top of the chart to where a red head was desperately trying to hold back tears while placing an IV.

"What? Smiley?!" Since their initiation, Garrick had reduced all but two of his interns to tears. Whenever he went off on one, Posen just calmly stared at him till he was finished and asked how she could improve, Beale smiled and promised she'd do better next time…and she always did. While Posen was impressive, holding her own under fire, he'd never seen anyone be as relentlessly happy as the red head for as long as she had in the hospital. It had a way of sucking the life out of people but the red head has refused to let it do so yet. Freeman and he had internally dubbed her Smiley McSmileyson. Nothing he could do could dampen that grin, yet here she was, looking ready to start sobbing any second. Garrick felt a bit put out by it.

"What did you do to her Daniel? I can't believe you broke Smiley. I like Smiley and I know you do too, even if you won't admit it."

"I didn't do anything."

"Oh come on now, we both know you've been pushing her and Posen harder than usual lately. What finally made her crack?

"I swear Sarah, if I'd made her do that then I'd claim credit for it." Freeman eyed him closely.

"You're actually telling the truth aren't you?"

"Would I lie to you?"

"You promised you'd come to my son's christening."

"Pfft, we both knew that was never going to happen." Freeman swatted him lightly with the chart in her hands before frowning.

"Seriously though, I'm worried. I really thought Smiley had something going for her there."

"Me too, that's why I've been pushing her and Posen so hard."

"I wonder…" Freeman said thoughtfully.

"Wonder what?"

"You know that girl? The tiny one who sometimes brings Smiley a packed lunch?"

"Yeah?"

"I haven't seen her in a while, have you?"

"…no…do you think..?"

"Maybe, no way to know without prying though."

"Prying it is then." Garrick grinned evilly.

"Since when do you care about the personal lives of interns?"

"Since someone broke Smiley. HANFORD. GET OVER HERE." A young man with an overly floppy brown fringe came running over, halting just in front of the doctors, trembling slightly and hoping that Doctor Freeman's presence would be enough to keep Garrick calm. "Smil-I mean Beale. What happened to her?"

"I don't know what you mean sir."

"Of course you know what I mean, why is she upset? She's never upset."

"Umm…I'm not sure we're supposed to talk about it…" Todd Hanford's voice faded into nothing as the low rumblings of Doctor Garrick's famous growl reached his ears.

"Here's what you're gonna do Todd, you're going to tell me what the hell is up with Beale and then you're going to go to a damn barber and get rid of that ridiculous hair. You can't save people's lives if you can't see them. If you don't then I'll put you on duty with Lily down in the morgue. Are we clear?!"

"Yes sir Doctor Garrick sir!"

"It's okay Todd, Daniel doesn't mean it. We just need to know if there's something bothering Chloe, she seems a bit down is all." Todd nervously returned Freeman's smile.

"It's her girlfriend Doctor Freeman, they've been fighting about not getting to see much of each other. Doctor Garrick's been scheduling her so many shifts at the hospital and her girlfriend works as a DJ so she's usually out on the night's Chloe gets to spend at home and…

"And what? Spit it out Hanford." Garrick grumbled, already uncomfortable with the way his stomach appeared to be churning.

"The other night, when Doctor Garrick called us in to test our reaction time to an emergency…Chloe was supposed to be going to her girlfriend's opening gig or something…she missed it because Doctor Garrick said he'd have anyone who didn't respond immediately fired…"

"Thank you Todd, you can go now." Eyeing Garrick with fear one last time, Todd left as quickly as he could. Garrick looked down at the floor as he felt Freeman's eyes burning into him.

"Daniel?"

"Yes Sarah?"

"Fix it." With those two syllables uttered in a chilling tone he had heard merely twice before, Freeman left, only the sound of her heels clacking down the corridor left. People at the hospital could be scared of Garrick and his yelling all they wanted, but that was because they had _never_ been on the receiving end of an annoyed Sarah Freeman.

* * *

Keys rattled in the lock and Frank allowed himself a smile as he heard the distinctive sound of his wife moaning about the door sticking for the millionth time. It was an easily solved problem, something that could be sorted in a matter of minutes really…but he and Agnes were creatures of habit, settled in their ways for fifty odd years now.

They complained, grumbled, whined and protested, but in reality they liked things just the way they were. Shuffling her way through the door, arms still laden with groceries (all these years later and she still insisted on trying to carry all the shopping in in one load) Agnes was greeted by Frank moving to help her with the oversized bags.

"Thank you stupid head." A casual insult tossed his way on their first date had somehow turned into an affectionate nickname that still warmed his heart many years later. Oddly enough, it was when she didn't call him stupid head that he really started to worry that something was wrong.

"You were gone longer than usual, I was starting to get worried." Agnes smiled fondly at her husband. He always had been a worrier. Right from the beginning, that's one of the things that drew her to him, he was always concerned about her welfare first.

"I ended up having a conversation with a charming young couple in the shop. You should have seen them Frank, they were adorable."

"Yeah?"

"My cart fell over and they came over to help me so we started talking….well Chloe did, that was one of them. She was very chatty, the other one, Beca, was quite quiet but, oh Frank, you should have seen the way she looked at Chloe. It was love, I saw it in her eyes." Frank paused in the act of retrieving the eggs from a bag. He recognised that tone in his wife.

"…you tried to adopt them didn't you?"

"Well Beca offered to set up our sound system when I mentioned how _someone_" here she looked pointedly at Frank, "managed to blow the power for the entire street the last time he tried to do it."

"So when are we having them for dinner?"

"Thursday, remind me to speak to Irene before then?"

"What about?"

"Her son…..what's his name…Louie? No, Luke! That's it. He works at that place doesn't he? Something or other records?"

* * *

"ZOEZOEZOEZOEZOEZOEZOEZOEZOEZOEZOEZOE."

"Oh my god Liam, WHAT?!" The blonde haired journalist snapped at her annoying yet lovable co-worker who had just rushed into the room.

"Beca. Freaking. Mitchell." Zoe raised one pierced eyebrow at him.

"Yes. You want her babies. I want her babies. Everyone wants her babies. What about her?"

"She's doing an interview." That caught Zoe's attention.

"What?! But she never does interviews, ever!"

"Yeah, her publicist said they're trying to get her face out there more, for the fans." Zoe sat in silence for a moment, occasionally running her hand through her choppy haircut and tried to absorb the information.

"Which lucky sod got ahold of that job then?" Liam couldn't keep the grin off his oddly baby like face. Ever since he'd heard the news, this was the moment he'd been waiting for, the moment he got to see Zoe's reaction.

"Us."

"What?"

"It's us. We're interviewing Beca Mitchell." Zoe stared for a moment. Liam enjoyed it, it was an extreme rarity that he managed to render Zoe speechless.

"Liam. I swear to fucking god that if you are screwing with me now I will personally remove your heart with a rusty spoon and feed it to Saxon."

"Guess your monster of a dog is going to be disappointed then."

"You're really not joking?" Brown eyes looked at him beseechingly, begging him to not have this be another one of his pranks.

"It's Beca Mitchell. I don't joke about Beca Mitchell."

"Excuse me a moment." Liam laughed as Zoe moved to grab a cushion that they kept on hand after discovering that Zoe's method of celebrating consisted of screaming as many expletives as loud as she could in elation. Since working with her, Liam had discovered a plethora of new curse words he had previously been unaware of. It was a solid five minutes of muffled "FUCKYEAHBECAMOTHERFUCKINGMITCHELL" being yelled into that cushion before Zoe calmed down.

"Feel better now?" Liam teased as Zoe's red face reappeared.

"I fully expect to have to do that at least three more times today."

"Noted."

"I mean…how? I know we're not exactly a small magazine but we're certainly not huge. I would have thought someone like Beca Mitchell would be on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine or something."

"Well you know Cynthia Rose? The one who writes the music review column?"

"Yeah?"

"Word is that Mitchell used to work in a coffee shop she managed and she owed CR a favour. She convinced Mitchell to read some of our articles and she likes that piece we did on David Guetta so…yeah. This is _it _Zoe, this is going to be the biggest moment of our careers. We absolutely cannot fuck this up."

"Alright, I mean…where do we even start?" Liam gestured to the folder he carried in with him.

"They've sent over some stuff, a few preliminary facts and bits of background info so we'll know which subjects to avoid and which ones to focus on."

"Let's get straight on that then." Zoe snatched the folder from Liam's objecting hands and began a cursory flick through, pausing as she hit a picture.

"No way…"

"What? What is it?"

"She's married."

"Really?!"

"Yeah look." Zoe thrust the folder into Liam's waiting face where a picture showed two smiling brides and a small wedding party.

"Wow…they're beautiful."

"I know right? They look so happy."

"Guess none of us are getting her babies then."

"Dammit." Zoe sighed with a dejected face.

"You know, for a straight girl you seem really put out by this."

"Just because I'm straight doesn't mean I can't want her glorious little musical babies okay?"

"Whatever you say sweet cheeks….wouldn't mind having _his_ babies though." Liam grinned, pointing to the man in the tux on Beca's left.

"Who is that anyway? Wait, there are some notes here….'pictured here is Beca with best man Jesse Swanson and Chloe with maid of honour Aubrey Posen, their respective best friends'. Huh…."

"What is it?"

"It's just…there's this whole new world of stuff that we don't know about her, that we get to discover." Zoe smiled…then raised the cushion to her face again and allowed herself a few more expletives.

"You done?"

"Yeah."

"Well then…let's get cracking."

* * *

"Alright team, we all know what we're doing, you all have your assignments, now let's keep these guys safe." The chief gestured for them to all clear out then there was a low mumble of assent as the team dispersed. Kevin irritably jammed his ear piece into place as Steve sidled up next to him smiling happily. Kevin didn't know why, he'd been assigned to the notorious Amy Wilson, she'd been known to go wrestle crocodiles on nights out. It was never an easy job protecting her, mainly because it involved protecting her from herself. Still, Steve appeared happier than him and it showed.

"Why do you look like someone shot your mother?"

"Just not looking forward to tonight is all." Kevin said neutrally, fiddling with his holster.

"You're joking right? You're protecting Mitchell and Beale, those two are the hottest thing going right now. The epic music producer and the doctor of leading research into cancer."

"Yeah, which means they're way more at risk than everybody else. I've got an evening of constant threat to deal with while they pretend to fawn over each other."

"Pretend?"

"Oh come on Steve, we've been in the body guard business long enough to know that half the celebrity couples out there are just shams for publicity. Tell me this one doesn't stink of bullshit to you?"

"But they've been together since high school…"

"And Mitchell spent years hiding her face from the world, they had plenty of time to fabricate whatever background story they wanted. I mean come on, childhood sweethearts struggling against all the odds? That doesn't happen in real life. It's all a publicity stunt." Kevin's charcoal eyes softened slightly when he saw Steve's hurt look.

The guy had always been a romantic at heart (though how he maintained that attitude in this business he had no clue) and Kevin could tell he'd just stomped on one of the things that made Steve happy. "Look Steve, I'm sorry I didn't mean it." Kevin tried to backtrack but knew that Steve had an uncanny ability to tell when he was lying and today was no exception. Kevin was astonishingly shit at lying to people he had respect for, something about it made him terribly uncomfortable and it showed on his face.

Which is why a dingo bitten Steve was so surprised the next day when he saw not a trace of that give away on Kevin's face when he told Steve he'd never seen two people so in love. Also, Mitchell had asked him to join her staff as personal body guard and, oh, there was a spot for Steve too. Would they be interested?

* * *

Sharon sighed happily as she relaxed in the spa chair, the comforting sound of Gemma jabbering away beside her. Life had taken them their separate ways many times but they always stayed in contact and went away for a girly retreat together once a year to reconnect. Gemma was honestly the only person she'd really stayed in contact with from high school, all the others had just somehow faded away. Hold up a minute, why wasn't Gemma talking anymore?

"Gemma?"

"….mmm?"

"You okay?"

"You're not going to believe this."

"What?"

"You know Beca Mitchell?"

"The DJ? Yeah, of course I do. Who doesn't?"

"She's done an interview…there's a picture of her…" surprised at the news of the elusive DJ making a public appearance, Sharon gladly accepted the magazine Gemma was now offering to her. Familiar features greeted her.

"Huh…she really reminds me of someone…that, girl, you know the one? From school, the one who always had headphones on? What was her name again?" Gemma stared pointedly at her. Sharon's mouth dropped open in disbelief. Burying her face in the magazine again, Sharon scrutinised the smirking face pictured on it. "This is so weird…I love her music….and we went to school with her….this is so bizarre." Gemma was still smiling at her. "What?"

"Read the top of the next page." Sharon flipped over and began reading the next page.

"When we asked what motivated her to keep going when things got rough in her initial years trying to make it in LA, Mitchell was quick to assure us that it's all down to her wife and childhood sweetheart Chloe Be-OH MY GOD" Gemma squealed with glee beside her.

"They stayed together! They actually did it Sharon!"

"I thought they'd break up for sure, I was surprised when they made it through high school but this…"

"I told you they were cute together." Gemma commented smugly.

"Looks like you were right." Eying the picture of the two women smiling gently at each other, Sharon felt inexplicably happy that somehow the two had lasted, defying the odds and opinions of those around them. She hadn't been alone in predicting the early demise of the couple but they'd all been proven wrong.

"It's strange to think she's that same girl who slept on her desk at the back of maths." Gemma mused. Sharon smiled gently at the picture of the girl who had come such a long way from Barden High.

"Yeah…well I'll be damned, go loner music girl."

* * *

_**Thoughts? :D**_


End file.
